Page 58 - May 2017 Newsletter

Wake-up call for Chicago Police Officers
If trouble sleeping is affecting your job, see the sleep physicians at Chicago ENT
n BY MITCHELL KRUGEL
What medical issue that affects at least 15 percent of males can cause the biggest problems for police officers?
What condition that currently hits 50 million people in the U.S. can increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, can lead to weight gain and the accumulation of belly fat, can result in memory loss and can even cause impotence?
What ailment can leave police officers stressed and irritable at the very moment when responding to a call requires being patient and understanding?
Wake up, folks, because this outbreak is snoring and/
or sleep apnea. And it’s not only costing you sorely need-
ed good nights of sleep, but it’s most likely keeping your bed- time partner awake as well.
“For patients who are sleep-deprived because of apnea, response times can be equal to somebody who is under the influence of alcohol,” explains Dr. Michael Friedman, medi- cal director at Chicago ENT, the city’s preeminent facility for treating snoring and sleep apnea with five locations in Chica- go. “People who start out the day tired and irritable because they are sleep-deprived will not show much patience in high- stress situations.”
Both snoring and sleep apnea can contribute to the fatigue, irritability and stress that result from lack of a good night’s sleep, not to mention several consecutive nights. You know the feeling: clouded head; breathing troubles; nodding off at roll call or even in the patrol car.
Snoring occurs when a sleeping person breathes and tis- sues in the back of the throat vibrate. Snoring implies that there is a partial obstruction of the airflow during sleep. When snoring is extremely mild, it often doesn’t require treatment, but it does require further assessment to determine if it is po- tentially serious.
Sleep apnea is a disorder in which a person has obstructed airflow during sleep. The obstructed airflow causes damage because oxygen levels drop during the disrupted breathing. This drop in oxygen levels causes a change in the pulse and blood pressure, which damages the cardiovascular system and may cause disrupted sleep. Sleep apnea is determined by the number of breathing disruptions during a sleep cycle, which cause a person to actually wake from sleep momen- tarily.
Dr. Friedman, who is a nationally renowned otolaryngolo- gist-head and neck surgeon, assesses that close to 100 million people in the U.S. have a snoring problem, close to 50 mil- lion people have sleep apnea and at least 15 percent of males have some significant level. He wonders why police officers are not screened for apnea like pilots, truck drivers and other professions for which having a good night’s sleep to be alert is crucial.
“And it can be a problem if the sleep of your partner is dis- turbed by listening to your snoring,” Dr. Friedman adds. “If sleep apnea is a problem for both of you, then nothing is fun.”
In addition to otolaryngologists who are specially trained to treat diseases and disorders of the ear, nose and throat, the Chicago ENT team includes sleep doctors, allergists, head-
58 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ MAY 2017
and-neck surgeons and dental sleep specialists, who treat sleep apnea.
“What we pride ourselves on are the many options to treat sleep apnea,” notes Dr. Friedman, who is also a professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at Rush University Medical Center and chair of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck
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urgery at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. “Many sleep physicians can prescribe a CPAP machine. Many dentists do sleep medicine. Many surgeons do surgery. We are one of the few centers in the country that have a multidisciplinary team working in collab-
oration.”
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Health
Dr. Friedman suggests that one of the primary reasons snoring and sleep apnea go untreated is the trepidation that patients have about addressing the problem. Many fear the dreaded sleep study required to test for apnea that means spending the night in a hospital hooked up to electrodes.
Evoking its innovative approaches to treating apnea, Chi- cago ENT has taken to conducting sleep studies in state-of- the-art sleep centers with hotel-like amenities. Chicago ENT also offers the choice to have a sleep study performed in one of its private hotel suites. It’s not all the comforts of home, but it’s much more comfortable than a hospital bed. And in some situations, testing can be done in the comfort of the patient’s home.
As far as treatment, Chicago ENT offers up to 20 different protocols, most of which are covered by insurance. The first one many people choose is the worst option: doing nothing. Another is surgery, which patients deem unfavorable or think has minimal results. The third option is the CPAP machine, which blows air through tubing and a mask to keep the air- ways open and reduce or eliminate the lack of oxygen disrup- tions. Yet there are many other options available.
The fear of the sleep study can pale in comparison to hav- ing to wear a mask through the night. “But patients who try it report life-changing results even after the first night,” Dr. Friedman details. “They tell me they wake up feeling 20 years younger, their mind is refreshed and they look like a new per- son.”
Chicago ENT’s dental sleep specialists also have had con- siderable success prescribing an oral appliance to sleep ap- nea patients. Much like a retainer, the oral appliance keeps the airways open and eliminates the obstruction that causes snoring or disrupts the flow of oxygen.
Chicago ENT is also having success with minimally invasive surgical options and other new, techniques such as palatal stiffening that reduces the way the tongue can block airways. There is an even a newly approved approach by the FDA that inserts an implant on the tongue and stimulates the tongue to reduce blockage.
“People often ask me, ‘What drives your passion?’ It’s really quite simple: finding new solutions to help my patients,” de- clares Dr. Friedman, who has also published the book Treat- ment of Snoring and Sleep Apnea. “We don’t want you to wait until you are falling asleep at work to come see us. We can treat you in a simple way, and once you are treated, you will see a huge difference.” d